Research News

Why is there another IPCC report?

Heatwaves do not only occur on land, but also inside the ocean. Marine heatwaves are defined as periods of prolonged anomalously high sea surface temperatures compared to the local 30-year long record. Although the occurrence of these events has been observed locally, researchers in recent years looked at this phenomenon at the global scale.

For the 25th time, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) published a statement on the State of the Global Climate. The latest report was launched at the United Nations headquarters in New York on the 28th March. It looks back at the climate of 2018 globally.

The European continent has a very rich culture and unique landscapes and climate. The climate is driven by the Gulf Stream, which makes it milder and wetter in comparison to other regions at similar latitudes. Everyone, who has traveled through Europe knows that landscape and culture change greatly even over small distances. Climate change is likely to impact the economies of European countries, both in positive and negative ways. How will warming affect tourism in summer and winter? Will some of the warming reduce demand for electricity?

Tornadoes are the most violent of atmospheric storms with wind speeds exceeding 120 m/s. A tornado consists of a rotating column of air reaching from a thunderstorm cloud all the way to the ground. When a tornado develops a condensation funnel of water droplets and debris it becomes visible to the human eye like in the photo below. As opposed to hurricanes, tornadoes are occurring on a much smaller scale with shorter lifetimes and travel distances. Yet, they can be very destructive.

The Met Office has released a report detailing how the changing climate has affected weather extremes in the UK from 1961 – 2017. By documenting periods of extremely warm, cold, dry and wet weather they have mapped how extreme conditions have changed between 1961 – 1990 and 2008 – 2017.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) opened a meeting on October 1st 2018 in Incheon, South Korea to discuss the Special Report on Global Warming of 1.5°C. Governments requested a report from the IPCC on the effects warming by 1.5°C would have in order to help them address climate change. 195 IPCC members’ governments and IPCC scientists will meet this week to finalise the Summary for Policymakers of the report.

Antibiotics are widely used in both animals and humans to treat bacterial infection. This use (and often overuse) has caused bacteria to evolve and develop resistances against the treatment, posing great risks for human health globally.